Topic: iraq war

On the eve of my retirement, Times Editorial Page Editor Kate Riley suggested I pick my favorites from the 342 columns I’ve written for The Times since 2000. Here are 10, with my own headlines:

1. “Games With Words,” April 12, 2000. This was my takedown of the World Trade Organization protesters, who used loopy logic to justify their disruption of an international conference.

2. “A Republican War,” April 9, 2003. I hated the Iraq war and wrote three columns against it before President Bush started it. This one was written while U.S. soldiers were on the way to Baghdad. In it, I predict that the conquest of Iraq would result in an electoral disaster for the Republicans in 2004. I was wrong; the disasters came in 2006 and 2008.

Former presidents salute one of their own on the eve of the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Update: Getting five living U.S. presidents together offers a profound visual of American democracy. To hear them speak of each other with respect and admiration for the complexities of the top job in the world is humbling. Say what you will about former President George W. Bush, and President Obama did on Thursday, the guy deserves some credit. In his speech Obama credited Bush with ” leading the global fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria, helping to save millions of lives and reminding people in some of the poorest corners of the globe that America cares and that we’re here to help.” Obama also hailed Bush’s bipartisan approach to education “reaching across the aisle to unlikely allies like Ted Kennedy, because he believed that we had to reform our schools in ways that help every child learn, not just some.” Obama’s salute underscores the ways Bush’s legacy will be a complex mix of good and terrible.

Earlier: Here’s proof that time apparently does heal some wounds. On the eve of Thursday’s dedication of Bush’s presidential library and museum in Dallas, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds 47 percent of Americans now approve of the former president. Half of Americans still disapprove.

That’s an improvement over Bush’s 39 percent approval ratings when he left office. And among registered voters, it puts Bush’s approval ratings right around President Obama’s, according to the Post-ABC surveys.

President Obama has some serious work to do. His approval ratings ought to be higher than the former president’s. I’ll get to why in a minute. But this Washington Post story gives a contextual sense of why Bush’s raised approval ratings are such a surprise.

At the 10 year anniversary of the Iraq War, how much did that misguided decision cost us? Upwards of $1.6 trillion in direct spending, according to the Cost of War project. Compare that to the $50 to $60 billion the Bush Administration estimated as it beat the war drums in 2002. The big number –…